Session: 03-08-02: Micromechanics and Multiscale Modeling II

Paper Number: 107326

107326 - Thermomechanical Design of Tailorable Composites and Hybrid Material Systems 

There is an urgent need for innovative material concepts for exploration vehicles, space habitats, and other space hardware. Tailorable composites and hybrid material systems are good candidates because they can leverage a broad variety of materials, including but not limited to metallic alloys, short and/or long fiber reinforcements, and a variety of matrices. However, for tailorable composites/hybrid material systems, the capabilities of existing design tools are lagging much behind evolving manufacturing techniques. The theories underpinning most existing design tools are classical lamination theory (CLT) for structural analysis and rules of mixture (ROM) for micromechanical analysis, both of which work for laminates made of unidirectional fiber reinforced composites (UDFRC). A design process is usually guided by semi-empirical rules applicable to UDFRCs, e.g., consecutive plies with the same fiber angle should not exceed a certain number, and the fiber angle difference between two adjacent plies should not exceed a certain value. Some tools idealize composite structures as black aluminum and are only applicable to quasi-isotropic stacking sequences. To exploit the full potential of tailorable composites and hybrid material systems, there are great needs for suitable theories and design methodologies, and a commercially available tool that can fully integrate them.

To meeting these requirements, a new design framework and corresponding tool are developed. The tool includes a) Mechanics of structure genome (MSG)-based thermomechanical models including both micromechanics models and shell models. The micromechanics models will be used to compute effective 3D properties (elastic constants, CTEs) in terms of fiber and matrix properties. The shell models will be used to compute effective shell properties for panels made of a variety of materials such as metals, short and/or continuous fiber reinforcements (including tow-steered composites), and a variety of matrices (thermoset, thermoplastic, ceramics, etc.); b) A design optimization framework embedded with MSG-based micromechanics models and shell models, which can tailor the fiber paths, layups, select constituent materials for composites and other materials for hybrid material systems at different locations for optimal load paths and challenging thermal performance requirements; c) Intuitive and user-friendly GUI plug-ins in MSC.Patran/Nastran and Abaqus. The capabilities of the tool will be demonstrated using relevant space or aero structures considering both mechanical and thermal performances.

The main contributions of this work include: a) The proposed MSG-based models will be as efficient but more accurate than other existing models for modeling tailorable composites and hybrid material systems. b) The proposed design methodology can be used to design both the structure and the material, while considering varying fiber orientations, ply coverages, and hybrid material systems simultaneously. c) The integrated design framework will enable engineers to use commercially available FE tools for design and analysis of real structures made of tailorable composites and hybrid material systems.

Presenting Author: Su Tian Purdue University

Presenting Author Biography: PhD student, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Purdue University,
Purdue University, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, MS, 2015
Tongji University, China, Aerospace Engineering, BS, 2013

Authors:

Su Tian Purdue University
Xin Liu University of Texas at Arlington
Liang Zhang AnalySwift
Wenbin Yu Purdue University